Messages

211

General Mach Discussion / Re: Turn on an Output? Shamefully simple?

« on: November 19, 2010, 01:10:13 AM »

Make an on-screen button in a program like MachScreen

Set the function to "Execute VB-Script"

Enter code like this example in the "Execute Code" field

If IsOutputActive(OUTPUT4) Then
DeActivateSignal(OUTPUT4)
else
ActivateSignal(OUTPUT4)
end if

This will toggle output  4.

Set the relevant ouput to the pin of your choice in "Ports and Pins"

Hope this helps

Greg

212

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing slaved axis with a common switch

« on: November 07, 2010, 02:03:46 AM »

For slaved axis homing you must have the two relevant home switches on separate inputs.

Greg

213

General Mach Discussion / Re: New Mach3 user looking for some help

« on: October 24, 2010, 03:54:50 PM »

Richard I am interested in how this happened to you as an Aspire user.

What PP are you using?  Are you using the latest version?

The Mach PP outputs a G91.1 command in the header, which sets arcs to incremental.

Greg

214

General Mach Discussion / Re: When Homing, Z does not back off switch

« on: October 23, 2010, 08:22:27 PM »

Once you have checked out the two suggestions above then try a hefty debounce interval.

Greg

215

General Mach Discussion / Re: Manual button for auto zero

« on: October 23, 2010, 07:00:20 PM »

Hood's advice to use MachMad is good.  It only costs $10.  Then you can have all sorts of remote triggers.

However if you want to do it this way, here is a copy of an old post of mine regarding having a manual button for a macro.

====================================================================

A brain can not trigger a macro on it's own.  So the macropump does that.

However brains are a no brainer to implement safety timers and lockouts.  (pun intended)  

The auto tool zero macro needs to be placed in the macro folder with the name of your profile.  Eg.  Mach3Mill.    Call it  M615.m1s

The macropump calls the relevant macro when a user LED goes active.

It basically is one which Poppabear wrote for me a while ago.  Much the same as posted above.

The brain sets the LED when the switch is pushed and held for 1.5 seconds but only if there is no motion,  the spindle is not running and reset is not active.

Being an external momentary switch I think the 1.5 second delay is a good safety measure.  

This means you must push and hold the switch for 1.5 seconds before anything will happen.

You do not want unintentional activation of the macro.

So the addition of the brain is just to allow for easy implementation of the safety lockouts.

====================================================================

Have the momentary switch activate OEMTRIGGER#5

Remove any initial delay in the auto tool zero script.  The brain now handles that.

Try it if you wish,

Greg

216

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th axis setup cheat sheet

« on: October 20, 2010, 03:33:41 PM »

Another very easy way to do what Tweakie talked about in the second half of post above, is to use CNCWrapper.

http://www.cncwrapper.com/

Greg

217

FAQs / Re: Changing stepper motor direction

« on: October 16, 2010, 04:11:26 PM »

Menu, Config, Homing and Limits, check Reversed.

Greg

218

General Mach Discussion / Re: Hello - and Help please....Mach 3 and Vetric Cut2D

« on: October 10, 2010, 01:38:07 AM »

After asking support to Vectric, they replied that it is known to them and they have a workaround where you have to mod some registry entry for Mach3.

It is understandable that Vectric would not distribute a software patch for another company's product.  

Also Artsoft is in the middle of a new version development phase and I would not expect a fix from them any time soon.  Especially since this particular problem is not something that directly affects Mach3.

This issue is relevant to both Cut2D and Vcarve Pro. (in fact all Vectric programs)  All programs will output gcode directly to a running instance of Mach3.

However a large proportion of users will not have a Vectric CAM program running on their machine control computer at the same time as Mach3.  Although I do most of the time.

Also this has nothing to do with what program is listed in the Mach file menu.  That is a completely separate issue.  Not related at all.

If you know your way around the registry then do a search for entries containing "Mach4.Document".  If they are absent then this feature will not work.

It is my experience that Mach3 will make these registry entries on installation to XP, but for some reason, it does not when installing to Win7.  Others seem to be reporting that they can be missing on XP as well.

What I did was extract the entries from an XP installation and patch them to my Win7 installation.  This is all working perfectly for me.

I have declined to openly share this patch because even though it works for me, it is possible that there may be unintended consequences that I do not understand.  I am no programmer.

My advise is, if you know what you are doing with registry edits, then you can easily reproduce what I have done.

And if you do not, then playing around in the registry can have consequences.  Wait for an official fix.

Greg

219

General Mach Discussion / Re: Exactly how are home switches supposed to work?

« on: September 18, 2010, 08:06:11 AM »

  Let's say you have a microswitch as your home switch and it's operated by a cam, the home point
on the left side of the cam, may be in a different place to the home point on the right side of the cam.

For this mid axis home switch system to work, the home switch must be held active from the activation point all the way to one end of travel.

It can NOT, for example, be activated by a cam momentarily as the axis moves and then comes off the cam as movement continues in the same direction.

For this reason, to my mind, non contact switches are the best option.  Proximity or optical.

Mechanical roller type switch would wear out the roller in normal use.

Greg

220

General Mach Discussion / Re: Exactly how are home switches supposed to work?

« on: September 17, 2010, 07:41:39 PM »

Yes that is exactly how I operate my X axis home switch on my X3 mill.  It is mid travel.

Also I have X axis to home a second time after a short delay. 

The idea being that for best accuracy the axis always finally homes in exactly the same manor whichever the starting point.

Probably not necessary but satisfies my peace of mind.

Greg